


Boderline

by orphan_account



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-05-21
Packaged: 2018-01-16 03:17:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1329892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a bit of fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Amy sat at her desk typing up a report at her computer. Trying to type up a report. Except Jake was trying to get her attention by pulling odd faces. And she was adamant she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of smiling. No matter what he did.

He rolled his eyes backwards, stuck out his tongue and put his fingers up on his head to look like antlers and she felt her chest quake as she suppressed her laughter. 

Thankfully with his eyes rolled back he didn’t see and she composed herself by the time he dropped the face.

“Oh come on Santiago – nothing?”

She tried to mimic Rosa’s glare and it must have sorta worked because Jake just pouted before settling his head in his hands to just watch her instead.

He’d started doing that lately. Watch her. Most of the time he did it when he thought she wasn’t looking but she could still feel his eyes on her, boring into the side of her head almost like he was trying to concentrate enough force to read her mind. 

She wasn’t entirely ignorant of what was happening. She had always known that their partnership had always haphazardly bordered between a silly friendship and the possibility of something maybe a little bit more. Not that she’d ever wanted to talk about it with him. The thought of upsetting their little equilibrium terrified her more than anything. The thought of falling into a category and perhaps destroying the chance to ever dip into the other. Dating him and ruining their friendship. Committing to just being friends and having to watch him date, possibly someday, fall in love with someone else. Both sounded unbearable. So here they stayed, on the edge, teasing and bickering one day and sharing sweet little moments that kept her up all night thinking of the possibilities the next. Too terrified to make a decision, petrified that he’ll make her.

She knew he was jealous of Teddy. It wasn’t going to turn into anything serious. Not while even the slightest kiss made her stomach twist uncomfortably, almost like she shouldn’t be kissing him, like she felt guilty for cheating or something which was just ridiculous because it wasn’t like Jake wasn’t dating anyone or anything. He’d already told the precinct about a couple of skanks he’d gone out with these last couple of weeks. Rosa had taken pity on her and punched him in the arm when he started going into the intimate details of the evenings.

Rosa had called her out on what was happening a few days after tactical training. When she’d asked her about how her first date (well sixth if you count the other five last year) with Teddy had gone Amy might have slipped that she didn’t have the most fantastic time – not that it wasn’t nice. It was much better than any of the crummy blind dates she had gone on. And her mom was absolutely giddy that she was dating Teddy again, she’d been absolutely heartbroken when they broke up last time, probably more than Amy was. 

“Nice?”

“Yeah – we went to this restaurant on third.”

“Sounds fun.” The sarcasm was undeniable.

“Hey it was plenty fun okay.” She said though she struggled to actually come up with any evidence to back that statement up.

“None of my business.” Rosa said and focused her eyes back on the road. 

Amy swallowed and tried to let it go. Rosa was essentially giving her a get out of jail free card here all she had to do was let it go.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Amy immediately bit her lip with regret.

Rosa sighed probably knowing that Amy couldn’t let a simple comment slide. “You know what your problem is don’t you?”

She leaned back into her seat and turned to look out of the window. “What?”

“Peralta.”

That got her attention. “What? That’s just ridic…what?” she said her voice filled with an outrage that was perhaps a little too forced.

“Oh spare me. You two should just fuck already and get it out of your system. It’s not like he wouldn’t be willing.”

“Jake and I are just…”

Diaz turned to give her a fiery look which told her if she said ‘friends’ or ‘partners’ she’d probably get punched in the face. That’s probably why she had warmed to Rosa so much recently. She was one of the few people who could stop her when she went on one of her spectacular speeches – and all it took was a look.

“Yeah right. I spend practically every day with you two and I’m sick of it. Watching you pretend it doesn’t bother you that he dates other people. Watching him look at you like some cliché heartbroken puppy who just got kicked for good measure. It’s getting old.”

She was more than ready to deny it when she realised how good it might be to unload. To Rosa of all people. She hadn’t talked to Kylie about this although she had tried to force the topic on her more than one time. “Look it’s not that simple okay? It’s not like some random guy you meet in a bar or online. He’s my partner not some average ‘fuck’” she said flinching a little at Rosa’s term. “I don’t want to do anything to jeopardise my career.”

She thought Rosa might have argued with her, made another heated complaint. But she didn’t. And Amy was almost disappointed she didn’t have a magical answer to suddenly make Amy realise what she needed to do. That was one problem with her budding friendship with Rosa. Sometimes if you told her to drop something she would – even if you needed her not to. 

But ever since their conversation Amy couldn’t stop thinking about Rosa’s words and she was starting to notice more than ever how much she didn’t like Jake dating other women and how much he did stare at her with that adorable little crinkle on his forehead. 

Jake didn’t disturb her after that. He let her finish her report in peace and when she permitted herself to look at him later saw that he was actually getting on with his work too.   
In fact they didn’t speak for the rest of the day until they found themselves both waiting for the elevator. 

“Hey.” Jake said a little breathless coming up behind her. 

“Hi.” Amy said with a nervous smile pulling her bag further up her shoulder. 

They were silent as the elevator binged and they both slipped inside.

She heard him tap his fingers against the wall.

“So are you doing anything tonight?” He asked.

“Erm, I’m just going to get drinks with, Teddy.” She mumbled watching his face for any hint of a response.

He kept his face remarkably smooth in fact he almost looked like he did when he was interrogating a suspect although she liked to think she saw a deeper emotion behind his eyes.

“What?” Jake asked.

“Huh?” She hadn’t realised how long she’d been staring at him. She felt the colour rise in her cheeks, thankfully they’d nearly reached the ground floor. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

The doors slid open but they didn’t get out immediately. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said glancing into his hazel eyes one last time before she walked out of the elevator and walked out of the building quicker then if the devil had been at her heels.


	2. Chapter 2

In retrospect opening up to Boyle about his problems wasn’t one of his better moves.

Jake sat at his desk scratching the back of his neck as he tried to think of a way to get Amy’s attention. As she’d already shut down his attempts at conversation he opted for his usual tactic. Irritation. Scrunching up his face he pulled the most ridiculous expression he could muster and from the corner of his eye he could see Charles’ face fall.

Although he knew Charles had long had his suspicions it wasn’t until they finished up their tactical training that they actually talked about it. And while Jake was momentarily relieved at getting the feelings off his chest the downside was that now Charles watched them both relentlessly and never stopped telling Jake to make a ‘move’. Evidently this wasn’t what he had in mind. In fact the whole show must have really gotten to him as a few minutes later Charles put a hand on Jake’s shoulder and pulled him towards the break room.

“What was that?” He asked quietly, sounding more than a little disappointed.

“What? I was trying to get her attention.”

“By pulling faces?”

“I tried talking to her, she wasn’t interested.”

“So you decided it would be a good idea to annoy her instead. Jake I thought you said you were going to try and act more mature. Make her see what a good guy you are!”

Jake threw up his arms, “Why? What’s the point, it’s not like it even matters anymore!”

“She likes you.” 

Jake scoffed. The idea that Amy was even in the slightest bit interested in him was more than ridiculous.

“She does.” Charles said.

“You think?” The hopeful edge to his voice could be counted as nothing short of pathetic. 

“Yes – you just need to tell her how you feel.” 

Jake groaned, talking about his feelings wasn’t exactly the advice he was looking for. 

“Hey – she’s not a mind reader. You’ll never stand a chance if you don’t tell her how you feel.”

He rubbed his arm and tried to bury the thought that came to mind. What if I tell her and she says no. He knows how she feels about Teddy – he was always calling her. Joking about police codes. It was the last thing he’d ever thought hearing would make him jealous. At least at the moment her ignorance gave him hope. It gave him the opportunity to dream that maybe there would be a day when she might feel the same way about him as he does about her. That she’s only going out with Teddy because he hasn’t asked her. 

Looking up into Charles reassuring smile Jake nodded and went back to sit at his desk where he abandoned any attempts to grab her attention and got on with his work – it’s what she would want him to do right?

He almost missed her as she slipped out of the precinct to start home. Charles had hastily clapped him on the shoulder to grab his attention and Jake sprinted off after her. 

“Hey.” He said to grab her attention.

Amy briefly glanced at him before straightening her purse. “Hi.”

They both entered the elevator. He nervously tapped his fingers on the elevator wall as he tried to figure out a way to start this conversation. 

“So are you doing anything tonight?” That pulled her eyes to his. 

In a low voice she muttered something about going out with Teddy and he felt his stomach roll. 

He pulled himself up a little preparing to make a fool out of himself when he suddenly found himself caught up in her eyes. He had to resist staring at her so much on a day to day basis that he could almost have breathed a sigh of relief at the opportunity to fully look at her for such a length of time. She was beautiful. 

Amy’s eyes never left his and for once the tension that he always felt between them ever since their ‘date’ seemed to fade away. It was a moment he wished could have lasted much longer.  
“What” he heard himself say. He couldn’t find the words to ask her what had happened between them just now. 

“Huh?” His words seemed to pull her out of a trance and he watched as her cheeks turned a lovely shade of pink. 

He forced himself to ask the question this time. “Why are you looking at me like that?” And then he could have kicked himself. It had been the perfect opportunity to say how he felt and once again he tried to push her into being the first one to speak. Charles was right she wasn’t a mind reader. He had to say something. 

Jake found a flash of irritation as the elevator doors opened and with them the tension seemed to roll back in. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He heard her respond and he was forced to swallow a disappointed lump as she half ran out of the door. 

Punching the button he made his way back up to the precinct where most people were now making a move to go home. Disappointment and frustration must have been written all over his face as Charles was by his side in a minute. He saw Gina throw a confused glance in his direction.

“What happened? Did you tell her?” Charles asked trying to modulate the curiosity behind his words.

“No.” He walked over to his desk.

Just out of ear shot Rosa came up to Charles. “Let me guess, he wussed out too?”

“Too?”


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as he stepped foot in the building Rosa grabbed him by his jacket collar and dragged him into an empty corridor where Charles stood waiting.

“Ow!” Jake whined overdramatically. 

“Shut it.” Rosa said before leaning into the wall and giving Charles a look. “You’re up.”

“Okay Jake, Rosa and I have asked you to come here…”

“I don’t recall being asked.”

“I said shut it.” Rosa said menacingly.

“As I was saying we asked you to come here” Charles continued ignoring Jake’s scoff “to talk about Amy.”

Jake shot Charles a warning shot. The last thing he wanted was for Rosa to find out about his embarrassing crush, he’d never hear the end of it.

“She knows Jake.”

“What! How?” Jake said incredulously. He thought he’d done so well at not staring at Amy while they were at work.

“It’s obvious. You make a puppy face every time she walks in.”

Jake thought his face would melt off. 

“Don’t worry Jake, we’re going to help you.” Charles said soothingly. 

“How?”

“We’re going to get you two together.”

Jake took a step back. “Okay I’m going to spare you the bother. Amy’s not interested in me like that.”

“Are you doubting us?” Rosa said folding her arms across her chest. 

“Amy likes you Jake.” Charles said patting him on the shoulder. “We can tell.”

“Yeah when I asked Santiago about it she nearly wet herself.”

“You told Amy?” Jake half yelled. He just wanted to crawl in a hole and die. He shook his head. “Look this is all irrelevant. She’s dating Teddy just let it go.”

Charles just gave him a sympathetic smile while Rosa’s frown deepened.

“We’re not letting it go. I can’t work around this anymore, it’s making me sick. Just bone already.”

“You’re both crazy.” Jake said and took another step back. “I need to get back to work.”

“Wait Jake – just hear us out.”

“No. Just drop it. I can deal with this.” He said and stalked off to his desk.

 

“So plan B?”

“Plan B.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Hello.” Amy called out as she stepped into the evidence locker. “Rosa – you here?” It was the end of the day and everyone except Jake, Boyle and Rosa were left in the precinct. Just as she’d been packing up Rosa had walked over and told to meet her in the evidence locker in ten minutes. 

“Rosa?” She called out again while silently cursing the flickering light bulb. She’d reported it to the janitor two days ago and it still hadn’t been fixed. It left the room rather dark.

“Boyle.” She heard from behind her and spun around to find Jake hovering in the doorway. “Amy?”

“Jake – what’re you doing in here?”

“Boyle asked me to meet him here.”

“Diaz asked me to come here too. What’s going on?”

“I don’t…”

The door swung shut behind them. 

Jake stepped forward and pulled on the handle to find it was locked. A piece of paper was slipped under to door. 

“What’s that?”

Jake swore.

“Jake what is it?” Amy said and walked over to read the note over his shoulder. It said ‘We’ll let you out once you’ve sorted this out.’

“What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know, they’re just pranking us.” Jake said and scrunched up the paper. 

He half watched her as she groaned and sat opposite him. “I’m meant to meet Teddy tonight.”

“Can you call him?”

“There’s no signal in here.”

“What time?”

“Eight.”

“You might be able to make it.”

“God I’m going to kill Rosa for this.”

“Good luck with that.”

“What about your phone?”

He glanced down and saw two little bars staring back up at him. “Nope.”

He felt a slight twinge of guilt as she put her face in his hands but bit his tongue anyway. 

“I just don’t understand why they’d do this. Especially Boyle. Even Rosa, this isn’t her. It just doesn’t make sense. Jake?”

“What?”

“What do you think?”

“About what?”

“Why we’re in here?”

“Erm…”

Another piece of paper slid under the door and Amy ran for it before Jake could.

‘He likes you. Romantically. Discuss.’

“Jake?” Amy said in a high pitched voice which from experience usually indicated a hysterical rant. “What do they mean?”

“Erm…”

“You ‘like’ me?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.”

Jake pounced on the next piece of paper. ‘Lies.”

“Jake.” He hated the sympathetic edge in her voice. It almost made him feel like the kid who fell in love with his teacher. 

“I don’t okay. Boyle and Diaz have just seemed to have gotten this idea in their head and won’t let it go.”

When he eventually worked up the courage to look at her she was looking obstinately at the floor. 

“Jake I know.”

“What?”

“I know you ‘like’ me.”

“Wha – I – er, what?”

“I overheard you and Boyle talking about it.”

“Oh. Why didn’t you say anything?”

She finally looked up and her face was answer enough. Because she didn’t feel the same. 

“I’m sorry Jake, it’s just – Teddy.”

The door unlocked. 

“I really like him. Things were a bit odd at first but then things just started getting really – good.”

“Right. Good. For you I mean. Erm, well I’m glad. You’re happy. Well I’ll just be going.”

“Jake…” Amy tried to call him back but he’d already sped out of the door.


	5. Chapter 5

Amy gnawed on her lip as she sat at her desk. Rosa and Charles had released them half an hour ago but Amy still hadn’t moved to leave. She’d called Teddy and cancelled, claiming she’d been dragged onto a case.

She didn’t even realise there was still someone in the precinct until Rosa hopped onto her desk making her slosh her glass of water all down her pants in surprise.

Amy looked up into Rosa’s smirking face.

“Why are you still here?”

“Why are you?” Rosa asked. “Thought you were meant to be out with Teddy tonight.”

“I cancelled.” Amy said looking down feeling mildly ashamed of herself for the lie.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Huh.”

“What?” Amy said getting a little irritated.

“What?”

“That noise, what did that mean?” She snapped.

Rosa mockingly held her hands up in a show of surrender. “Chill. I just mean that it seems pretty obvious the only reason you cancelled was because of Jake.”

“I did _not_ cancel because of Jake.”

“Then why did you?”

“I wasn’t in the mood okay.”

“Yeah. Right.” Rosa said getting up. “Well I hope you have fun in your little delusion there…”

“Oh if anyone’s deluding yourself it’s you and Boyle.” Amy said standing up too. She’d never gotten this angry with Rosa before, usually one stern look would have sent her running for the door. “I don’t know where you’ve gotten this ridiculous idea about me and Jake but just let it go. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“The only reason nothing’s going to happen is because you’re too scared to let it.” Rosa said calmly. She shrugged into her jacket. “And one day you’re going to realise that and it’ll be too late.”

She turned and left the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Jake was slumped on the couch, his hand covering his eyes, when he heard a soft tap on the door. Groaning he got up to find a piece of paper had been slid underneath.

 _You never gave me a chance to say it_.

He turned the piece of paper over like it would give him any clue as to who wrote it. Moving closer to the door he looked through the peep hole and saw Amy leaning on the wall.

He stepped back and deliberated whether he should pretend to be asleep. The thought left very quickly and he opened the door.

“Jake.” Amy said quietly. It was late, gone midnight.

“Amy why are you here? What’s this?” He said waving the piece of paper.

“I…well.” She twisted her hands before stepping forward. “I felt really bad about what happened in the evidence locker.”

“You know Amy I’m a big boy I’ll get over it.”

She took a big breath. “I don’t want you to.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you to get over it – _me_.”

Jake ran his hands through his hair and moved deeper into the apartment. He heard Amy shut the door.

“Jake?”

“Is this some kind of ‘wait for me’ so you’ll have a backup in case detective awesome face decides to break things off?”

“No.”

“Then what the hell do you mean?” He said desperately.

She strode forward and pulled him down to her level before kissing him. He stood there for a few stunned moments before grabbing her shoulders and holding on for dear life.

It was short and sweet. It promised a future.

“I mean I ‘like’ you too.”


End file.
